Human rights advocates have said the raids are meant to discourage voter turnout, while ICE spokespeople have claimed the department merely “enforces the law of the nation across the country, including California.”
Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph V. Brennan, leader of the 1.2-million diocese of Fresno, attempted to add a spiritual element to the discussion earlier this month.
Catholics have used Scripture to argue for and against deportations and strict immigration enforcement.
Brennan issued a letter offering guidance from a Catholic perspective. He pushed back against the “indiscriminate nature” of raids and added that the Catholic Church “will not be silent” and “will accompany our vulnerable neighbors in concrete, sustained ways.”
Essential California asked the bishop about his letter and the church’s role in the immigration debate while checking in with a couple of Catholic scholars who offered their perspectives.
What did Brennan write?
Brennan, who served at St. Linus in Norwalk and the Cathedral at St. Vibiana in downtown L.A. en route to becoming bishop, said congregations “have been taken away abruptly and with little or no information coming from federal agents.”
“Our country and our elected officials must do better,” Brennan wrote. “We need tangible results that reflect meaningful and just immigration reform. Until such reform is achieved, the dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters must remain in the forefront of whatever shape our efforts might take.”
Brennan said his letter was based on direction offered by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in November. In their letter, the bishops attempted to balance human dignity and a right for governments to humanely protect borders.
Does the Catholic Church advocate for open borders?
Brennan said human dignity and national security are not in conflict and both are possible if people of good will work together.
“October is Respect Life Month in the Catholic Church,” he said. “Much like we advocate for the dignity of life when we urge women to not have abortions, we are also advocating for that same dignity of life when we accompany our migrant brothers and sisters.”
The Conference of Catholic Bishops said as much in November, recognizing that “nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good.”
Father William O’Neill, a Jesuit priest and director of immigration ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, argued that the Church has never advocated for open borders.
“I’d say that’s a primary misunderstanding,” O’Neill said. “The recognition that the state, by its very nature, has a right to control its borders has always been a part of Catholic social teaching.”
He, along with San José Bishop Oscar Cantú and Markkula colleague David DeCosse, penned an opinion piece in May for the National Catholic Reporter noting that those for and against deportations often rely on dueling biblical scriptures.
“These biblical mandates neither require ‘open borders’ nor prohibit deportation,” the trio wrote.
O’Neill noted that the church strives to find a middle ground, “to have a safe and legal pathway [to stay] in accordance with international law.”
The Catholic Church’s message is arguing against cruelty
Cecilia Gonzáles-Andrieu, professor of theology and human rights at Loyola Marymount University and the former president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, said that Catholics in favor of indiscriminate mass deportations are ignoring basic church teachings.
“We have a particular time right now in the United States and a particular set of suffering people, and we don’t get to say, well, now we’re just gonna pretend this isn’t happening,” she said.
She said the U.S. bishops were clear in their letter that beyond indiscriminate mass deportations, they also called for an end to “dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.”
“What we’re talking about needing to be eliminated are the extremes,” she said. “We’re talking about extreme and purposeful cruelty, which goes against the bedrock principles for Catholics — the sanctity of life and the family.”
Gonzáles-Andrieu said this cruelty spills over and affects U.S. citizens.
“I have young students who are fearful of being racially profiled, and I’m personally scared for my 92-year-old father,” she said. “Because if you look Latino or Latina, you are now open to being terrorized.”